Charity-circuit regulars have had their share of rubber chicken dinners, that’s for sure. Foul-tasting fowl is never on the menu, though, when Project PAVE has its annual Secret Chefs Dinner.
The 14th edition takes place Sunday at Strings restaurant, where hosts Noel and Tammy Cunningham will open their kitchen to a passle of budding Julia Childs. The guest chefs will prepare a seven-course feast that will include “O, What Wonderful Hors d’Oeuvres,” which are crimini mushrooms stuffed with bone marrow and truffle risotto; “Seared Beef Dancing with Sherry,” otherwise recognizable as grilled beef tenderloin with sherry reduction, truffle butter, lima bean puree and baby carrots; and “Everything but the Fuzz” peach sorbet.Gareth Heyman is chairing the 5:30 p.m. event and tickets ($150 each or $250 per patron-level guest) can be purchased at blacktie-colorado.com/rsvp. The event code is secretchef14.
Project PAVE is a nonprofit organization working to eliminate domestic, school and relationship violence.

Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.